Validation of asset movement can begin with the definition of a virtual tripwire for video cameras of a video surveillance system that monitor a defined area of interest through which RFID-identified assets are conveyed. The virtual tripwire can visually define a boundary within the view field of the video camera. The video camera can detect the movement of an asset through a virtual tripwire and an asset management system can be notified of the potential misdirection of the asset. The asset management system can obtain the asset's RFID data from a RFID handling system that monitors the area of interest. The validity of the detected movement can be determined using RFID data and an asset movement specification that defines pathing rules for assets and virtual tripwires. When the movement of the asset is determined to be invalid, a record of suspect movement data can be generated for the asset.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection. Each claim is shown in both the original legal language and a plain English translation.
1. A method for validating asset movement comprising: defining at least one virtual tripwire for at least one video camera of a video surveillance system that monitors a defined area of interest through which a plurality of assets are conveyed, wherein the at least one virtual tripwire visually defines a boundary within a view field of the at least one video camera, and wherein the plurality of assets are identified by an attached radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag; detecting movement of an asset through a virtual tripwire by a video camera, wherein said movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire is considered as a potential misdirection; notifying an asset management system of the detected potential misdirection of the asset, wherein said notification comprises at least a location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection and a time of the detected movement; obtaining RFID data for the detected asset by the asset management system from a RFID handling system, wherein said RFID handling system monitors the area of interest; determining a validity of the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire by the asset management system based upon the RFID data and an asset movement specification, wherein said asset movement specification defines pathing rules for the plurality of assets and virtual tripwires; and when the movement of the asset is determined to be invalid, generating a record of suspect movement data to document the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire, wherein obtaining RFID data for the asset further comprises: requesting the RFID data from the RFID handling system, wherein said request comprises at least the location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection; determining of a RFID reader closest to the location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection by the RFID handling system; activating of the RFID reader determined to be closest to the video camera by the RFID handling system; capturing of the RFID data contained within the RFID tag attached to the asset by the activated RFID reader; and conveying the captured RFID data to the asset management system.
A method for tracking assets using video and RFID. A virtual tripwire is set up in a video camera's view, marking a boundary. When a video camera detects an RFID-tagged asset crossing this line, it's flagged as potentially misdirected. An asset management system receives a notification, including the camera's location and time. The system then asks an RFID handling system (monitoring the area) for the asset's RFID data. The RFID handling system identifies the closest RFID reader to the camera, activates that reader, captures the RFID data from the asset's tag, and sends it back. Using this RFID data and predefined pathing rules for assets and tripwires, the asset management system checks if the movement was valid. If not, a record of the suspect movement is created.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein notification of the asset management system further comprises: generating of a tripwire event message by the video surveillance system; and conveying the tripwire event message to the asset management system.
In the asset tracking method, when a video camera detects a potential misdirection, the video surveillance system creates a "tripwire event message" and sends it to the asset management system. This message signals that an asset has crossed a virtual tripwire and further validation is needed based on the asset's expected path. This is an extension of notifying the asset management system of the detected potential misdirection of the asset, wherein said notification comprises at least a location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection and a time of the detected movement.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining RFID data for the asset further comprises: wherein said request comprises the time of detected movement; querying of a database of RFID data by the RFID handling system for a record corresponding to a time and location proximate to the time and location contained within the request from the asset management system; and returning the RFID data of the queried record to the asset management system.
In the asset tracking method, the RFID data retrieval process is optimized. Instead of only requesting based on the camera's location, the request from the asset management system also includes the time of the detected movement. The RFID handling system uses this time and location to query its database for a matching record of RFID data from that approximate time and location. The RFID data from the closest matching record is then returned to the asset management system. This is an extension of obtaining RFID data for the detected asset by the asset management system from a RFID handling system, wherein said RFID handling system monitors the area of interest.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination of the validity of the movement further comprises: querying the asset movement specification for pathing rules containing at least one of an identifier of the asset and an identifier of the virtual tripwire, wherein said identifier of the asset is a data item contained within the RFID data for the asset, and, wherein the identifier of the virtual tripwire is associated with the location of the video camera; evaluating each pathing rule found by querying the asset movement specification; and when a pathing rule evaluates as FALSE, designating the movement of the asset as invalid.
In the asset tracking method, determining if an asset's movement is valid involves checking predefined pathing rules. The asset management system queries the asset movement specification for rules that contain either the asset's ID (from its RFID data) or the tripwire's ID (linked to the camera location). Each matching rule is evaluated. If a rule is FALSE, the asset's movement is considered invalid. These rules define the expected paths assets should take. This is an extension of determining a validity of the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire by the asset management system based upon the RFID data and an asset movement specification, wherein said asset movement specification defines pathing rules for the plurality of assets and virtual tripwires.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the querying of the asset movement specification, evaluation of pathing rules, and designation of the asset movement are performed by a movement validation component of the asset management system.
In the asset tracking method, the querying of the asset movement specification for pathing rules containing at least one of an identifier of the asset and an identifier of the virtual tripwire, the evaluating of each pathing rule found by querying the asset movement specification, and the designating of the movement of the asset as invalid when a pathing rule evaluates as FALSE are all performed by a dedicated "movement validation component" within the asset management system. This component encapsulates the logic for path validation.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating of the suspect movement data further comprises: creating a new record of suspect movement data; aggregating incidence data comprising at least video data of the detected movement and the RFID data of the asset; and storing said aggregated incidence data in the new record of suspect movement data.
In the asset tracking method, the creation of a "suspect movement data" record includes multiple steps. First, a new record is created. Then, incidence data is collected, including at least video data of the movement and the RFID data of the asset. This combined data (video and RFID) is then stored within the new suspect movement data record. This provides a comprehensive log of the potential misdirection. This is an extension of generating a record of suspect movement data to document the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein, when video data is omitted from the notification of the potential misdirection, the aggregating of incidence data further comprising: requesting from the video surveillance system a segment of video data that corresponds to a time period encompassing the time of the detected movement, wherein said time period comprises a predefined amount of time before and after time of the detected movement.
In the asset tracking method, if the initial notification of a potential misdirection lacks video data, the system automatically requests a video segment from the video surveillance system. This segment covers a time period around the time of the detected movement, including some time before and after the event. This ensures that the suspect movement data record includes the relevant visual information, even if it wasn't initially provided. This is an extension of generating of the suspect movement data further comprises: creating a new record of suspect movement data; aggregating incidence data comprising at least video data of the detected movement and the RFID data of the asset; and storing said aggregated incidence data in the new record of suspect movement data.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: when the detected movement of the asset is determined to be valid, recording of said validity of the detected movement by the asset management system in a data record associated with the asset.
In the asset tracking method, if the system determines that an asset's movement *is* valid (i.e., it followed the correct path), this validity is recorded in a data record associated with the asset. This provides a history of asset movements and validates that the asset is moving as expected. This data record is recorded by the asset management system.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: sending of a movement alert to a designated human agent by the asset management system, wherein said movement alert comprises at least one of the record of suspect movement data, a uniform resource locator (URL) to the record of suspect movement data, and metrics pertaining to the detected movement through the virtual tripwire.
In the asset tracking method, after the system detects invalid asset movement, it sends a movement alert to a designated person. This alert contains either the suspect movement data record itself, a link (URL) to that record, or metrics about the movement (e.g., time, location, asset ID, tripwire ID). This allows a human agent to investigate the potential misdirection.
10. A system for validating asset movement comprising: a plurality of assets identified by an attached radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag; a video surveillance system having a plurality of video cameras that monitor a defined area of interest, wherein each video camera is capable of having at least one virtual tripwire defined in an associated view field, wherein the video surveillance system is configured to detect a movement of an asset through a virtual tripwire; a RFID handling system having a plurality of RFID readers configured to capture RFID data from RFID tags that pass through the defined area of interest; an asset movement specification defining a plurality of pathing rules for the plurality of assets and virtual tripwires associated with the plurality of video cameras, wherein the plurality of assets are referenced using the RFID data contained in the RFID tags; and an asset management system configured to capture suspect movement data for asset movements through the defined area of interest deemed invalid with respect to the asset movement specification, wherein said suspect movement data comprises at least video data of the movement from the video surveillance system and RFID data collected by the RFID handling system, wherein the RFID data for the asset is captured by: requesting the RFID data from the RFID handling system, wherein said request comprises at least the location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection; determining of a RFID reader closest to the location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection by the RFID handling system; activating of the RFID reader determined to be closest to the video camera by the RFID handling system; capturing of the RFID data contained within the RFID tag attached to the asset by the activated RFID reader; and conveying the captured RFID data to the asset management system.
An asset tracking system uses video surveillance, RFID, and an asset management system. RFID tags are attached to assets. Video cameras monitor an area and have virtual tripwires. The video system detects when assets cross these tripwires. An RFID system with readers captures RFID data. An "asset movement specification" defines rules for asset paths. The asset management system captures suspect movement data (video, RFID) when assets move incorrectly. To get RFID data, the asset management system requests it from the RFID handling system based on the camera location. The RFID handling system finds the closest RFID reader, activates it, captures the RFID data from the asset's tag, and sends it to the asset management system.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the asset management system further comprises: a movement validation component configured to determine a validity of the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire based upon the RFID data of the asset and the asset movement specification.
In the asset tracking system, the asset management system includes a "movement validation component". This component checks if an asset's movement is valid by comparing the asset's RFID data against the asset movement specification (which contains the pathing rules). This is an extension of a system for validating asset movement comprising: a plurality of assets identified by an attached radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag; a video surveillance system having a plurality of video cameras that monitor a defined area of interest, wherein each video camera is capable of having at least one virtual tripwire defined in an associated view field, wherein the video surveillance system is configured to detect a movement of an asset through a virtual tripwire; a RFID handling system having a plurality of RFID readers configured to capture RFID data from RFID tags that pass through the defined area of interest; an asset movement specification defining a plurality of pathing rules for the plurality of assets and virtual tripwires associated with the plurality of video cameras, wherein the plurality of assets are referenced using the RFID data contained in the RFID tags; and an asset management system configured to capture suspect movement data for asset movements through the defined area of interest deemed invalid with respect to the asset movement specification, wherein said suspect movement data comprises at least video data of the movement from the video surveillance system and RFID data collected by the RFID handling system, wherein the RFID data for the asset is captured.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the asset movement specification is written using a standardized language capable of being evaluated as at least one of TRUE and FALSE.
In the asset tracking system, the "asset movement specification" (the rules for asset paths) is written in a standard language that can be evaluated as either TRUE or FALSE. This allows for automated validation of asset movements. This is an extension of a system for validating asset movement comprising: a plurality of assets identified by an attached radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag; a video surveillance system having a plurality of video cameras that monitor a defined area of interest, wherein each video camera is capable of having at least one virtual tripwire defined in an associated view field, wherein the video surveillance system is configured to detect a movement of an asset through a virtual tripwire; a RFID handling system having a plurality of RFID readers configured to capture RFID data from RFID tags that pass through the defined area of interest; an asset movement specification defining a plurality of pathing rules for the plurality of assets and virtual tripwires associated with the plurality of video cameras, wherein the plurality of assets are referenced using the RFID data contained in the RFID tags; and an asset management system configured to capture suspect movement data for asset movements through the defined area of interest deemed invalid with respect to the asset movement specification, wherein said suspect movement data comprises at least video data of the movement from the video surveillance system and RFID data collected by the RFID handling system, wherein the RFID data for the asset is captured.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the standardized language comprises at least one of a BOOLEAN logic language, a regular expressions language, and an extensible markup language (XML).
The standardized language used to write asset movement rules in the asset tracking system can be BOOLEAN logic, regular expressions, or XML (Extensible Markup Language). This provides flexibility in defining the pathing rules. This is an extension of the asset movement specification is written using a standardized language capable of being evaluated as at least one of TRUE and FALSE.
14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the asset management system is further configured to generate and send a movement alert message to a designated human agent, wherein said movement alert message provides the human agent access to the suspect movement data record.
The asset tracking system, upon detecting invalid asset movement, can send an alert message to a person. This message gives the person access to the suspect movement data record, allowing them to investigate the issue. This is an extension of a system for validating asset movement comprising: a plurality of assets identified by an attached radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag; a video surveillance system having a plurality of video cameras that monitor a defined area of interest, wherein each video camera is capable of having at least one virtual tripwire defined in an associated view field, wherein the video surveillance system is configured to detect a movement of an asset through a virtual tripwire; a RFID handling system having a plurality of RFID readers configured to capture RFID data from RFID tags that pass through the defined area of interest; an asset movement specification defining a plurality of pathing rules for the plurality of assets and virtual tripwires associated with the plurality of video cameras, wherein the plurality of assets are referenced using the RFID data contained in the RFID tags; and an asset management system configured to capture suspect movement data for asset movements through the defined area of interest deemed invalid with respect to the asset movement specification, wherein said suspect movement data comprises at least video data of the movement from the video surveillance system and RFID data collected by the RFID handling system, wherein the RFID data for the asset is captured.
15. A computer program product comprising a computer storage hardware device having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising: computer usable program code configured to receive notification of a potential misdirection of an asset through a defined area of interest from a video surveillance system, wherein said potential misdirection represents a movement of the asset through a virtual tripwire associated with a video camera that monitors the defined area of interest, wherein said notification comprises at least a location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection and a time of the detected movement; computer usable program code configured to obtain RFID data for the asset from a RFID handling system, wherein said RFID handling system monitors the defined area of interest; computer usable program code configured to determine a validity of the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire based upon the RFID data and an asset movement specification, wherein said asset movement specification defines pathing rules for assets and virtual tripwires; and computer usable program code configured to, when the movement of the asset is determined to be invalid, generate a record of suspect movement data to document the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire, wherein the RFID data for the asset is obtained by: requesting the RFID data from the RFID handling system, wherein said request comprises at least the location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection; determining of a RFID reader closest to the location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection by the RFID handling system; activating of the RFID reader determined to be closest to the video camera by the RFID handling system; capturing of the RFID data contained within the RFID tag attached to the asset by the activated RFID reader; and conveying the captured RFID data to the asset management system.
A computer program automates asset tracking. It receives notifications of potential misdirections (assets crossing virtual tripwires) from a video system, including the camera location and time. It then gets the asset's RFID data from an RFID handling system monitoring the area. Based on the RFID data and predefined pathing rules, it checks if the movement was valid. If not, it creates a record of the suspect movement. To get RFID data, the program asks the RFID handling system based on the camera location. The RFID handling system finds the closest RFID reader, activates it, captures the RFID data from the asset's tag, and sends it back to the program.
16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the determination of the validity of the movement further comprises: computer usable program code configured to query the asset movement specification for pathing rules containing at least one of an identifier of the asset and an identifier of the virtual tripwire, wherein said identifier of the asset is a data item contained within the RFID data for the asset, and, wherein the identifier of the virtual tripwire is associated with the location of the video camera; computer usable program code configured to evaluate each pathing rule found by querying the asset movement specification; and computer usable program code configured to, when a pathing rule evaluates as FALSE, designate the movement of the asset as invalid.
In the asset tracking computer program, the process of checking if an asset's movement is valid involves querying the asset movement specification for rules that contain either the asset's ID (from RFID data) or the tripwire's ID (linked to the camera location). The program evaluates each matching rule. If a rule is FALSE, the asset's movement is considered invalid. This is an extension of A computer program product comprising a computer storage hardware device having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising: computer usable program code configured to receive notification of a potential misdirection of an asset through a defined area of interest from a video surveillance system, wherein said potential misdirection represents a movement of the asset through a virtual tripwire associated with a video camera that monitors the defined area of interest, wherein said notification comprises at least a location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection and a time of the detected movement; computer usable program code configured to obtain RFID data for the asset from a RFID handling system, wherein said RFID handling system monitors the defined area of interest; computer usable program code configured to determine a validity of the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire based upon the RFID data and an asset movement specification, wherein said asset movement specification defines pathing rules for assets and virtual tripwires; and computer usable program code configured to, when the movement of the asset is determined to be invalid, generate a record of suspect movement data to document the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire, wherein the RFID data for the asset is obtained.
17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein generating of the suspect movement data further comprises: computer usable program code configured to create a new record of suspect movement data; computer usable program code configured to aggregate incidence data comprising at least video data of the detected movement and the RFID data of the asset; and computer usable program code configured to store said aggregated incidence data in the new record of suspect movement data.
In the asset tracking computer program, creating a "suspect movement data" record involves creating a new record, collecting incidence data (video and RFID), and storing that combined data in the new record. This creates a log of the potential misdirection. This is an extension of A computer program product comprising a computer storage hardware device having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising: computer usable program code configured to receive notification of a potential misdirection of an asset through a defined area of interest from a video surveillance system, wherein said potential misdirection represents a movement of the asset through a virtual tripwire associated with a video camera that monitors the defined area of interest, wherein said notification comprises at least a location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection and a time of the detected movement; computer usable program code configured to obtain RFID data for the asset from a RFID handling system, wherein said RFID handling system monitors the defined area of interest; computer usable program code configured to determine a validity of the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire based upon the RFID data and an asset movement specification, wherein said asset movement specification defines pathing rules for assets and virtual tripwires; and computer usable program code configured to, when the movement of the asset is determined to be invalid, generate a record of suspect movement data to document the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire, wherein the RFID data for the asset is obtained.
18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein, when video data is omitted from the notification of the potential misdirection, the aggregating of incidence data further comprising: computer usable program code configured to request from the video surveillance system a segment of video data that corresponds to a time period encompassing the time of the detected movement, wherein said time period comprises a predefined amount of time before and after time of the detected movement.
In the asset tracking computer program, if the initial misdirection notification doesn't include video data, the program automatically requests a video segment from the video surveillance system. This segment covers a time period around the time of the event, ensuring the record has visual information. This is an extension of generating of the suspect movement data further comprises: computer usable program code configured to create a new record of suspect movement data; computer usable program code configured to aggregate incidence data comprising at least video data of the detected movement and the RFID data of the asset; and computer usable program code configured to store said aggregated incidence data in the new record of suspect movement data.
19. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising: computer usable program code configured to send a movement alert to a designated human agent, wherein said movement alert comprises at least one of the record of suspect movement data, a uniform resource locator (URL) to the record of suspect movement data, and metrics pertaining to the detected movement through the virtual tripwire.
The asset tracking computer program can send a movement alert to a person upon detecting invalid asset movement. The alert can include the suspect movement data record, a link to it, or movement metrics, enabling investigation. This is an extension of A computer program product comprising a computer storage hardware device having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising: computer usable program code configured to receive notification of a potential misdirection of an asset through a defined area of interest from a video surveillance system, wherein said potential misdirection represents a movement of the asset through a virtual tripwire associated with a video camera that monitors the defined area of interest, wherein said notification comprises at least a location of the video camera having detected the potential misdirection and a time of the detected movement; computer usable program code configured to obtain RFID data for the asset from a RFID handling system, wherein said RFID handling system monitors the defined area of interest; computer usable program code configured to determine a validity of the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire based upon the RFID data and an asset movement specification, wherein said asset movement specification defines pathing rules for assets and virtual tripwires; and computer usable program code configured to, when the movement of the asset is determined to be invalid, generate a record of suspect movement data to document the movement of the asset through the virtual tripwire, wherein the RFID data for the asset is obtained.
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September 29, 2010
March 28, 2017
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